brady
Play where the puck is going to be.
I have one clear memory of the first house I lived in with my family. We moved when I was 3, and I could not tell you more than what I've heard of the place besides the record player in the living room. I remember dancing with joy to a vinyl recording of "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News (from my parents, ehm, collection, don't judge). I remember irritating my parents with requests to have it played, and I was enamored by the soon to be extinct technology of records and turntables. Dropping the needle magically produced a reliable sound, along with snaps and pops I thought were cool.
Then came boy band pop like Boys 2 Men, Hootie and the Blowfish, and early 90's top 40. I was not even ten when I mastered the art of ripping songs from radio to cassette. I would play the 10 song cassette endlessly on our family vacation car rides across the USA. I really had no idea what the words were, what they meant, or what was "inappropriate" innuendo until I revisited these songs a decade later. Semi-Charmed life by Third Eye Bling was a favorite of mine that turned out to be quite provocative- it had a different meaning to me independent of what most heard. I've found I retain this extra, dare I say supernatural, connection to music (especially pop/rock/alt/folk/ but with time all kinds) that makes me feel things I cannot explain.
When the terrorist attacks hit NYC on 9/11, I was 12, and I spent my free time making montages of the wreckage, weeping, graphic and sentimental images from the incident that played through songs that I felt were sad but comforting and redeeming (like Let it Be by the Beatles). I showed these to my mom and she said it made her sad and I should do something else with my time.
I used a broomstick as a guitar and pretended to play songs in my room up until high school. That's when I got my first guitar (to the chagrin of my family) and learned it myself by repetition. I had a huge book of Beatles chords I worked my way through. Revolution was an easy one to start with and I eventually learned complex progressions and arrangements like Blackbird and A Day In The Life. I was technically not very smooth and prone to shyness and a lack of confidence that hindered my outward expression of what was going on in my room. I always felt ashamed that I was so clearly moved by musical things others found mundane or even annoying. It didn't help that I shunned technical training and practice because it felt remote from the intensity of experience I felt in songs.
I tabbed my own bass lines to songs without knowing what a bass was best utilized for. I published these on tab sites and they must have been rated down quickly for lack of fidelity to recordings. Made no difference to me for some reason.
I also couldn't sing, but didn't really know why or how since I sounded fine to myself. When I finally did learn to sing pleasantly and soulfully, in key and without nasally noise, I looked back and understood why I had never been given much consideration in my efforts and engagement in music.
I could go on about the warehouse catalog I used in my teens to order music from all decades and many genres. I listened to every CD and found "5 Star" songs I adored that many had never heard of. "Sangri La" by the Kinks or "Coming Up Roses" by Elliott Smith are good examples. I would hide the incoming parcels from my parents who disapproved of my expenditures by having my younger brother grab the mail early when he got home from school before me.
I ended up with an ability/sensory experience I still can't define and have difficulty mainstreaming. An example of a recent original is below to show where I've come to. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this with another passion or hobby.
Then came boy band pop like Boys 2 Men, Hootie and the Blowfish, and early 90's top 40. I was not even ten when I mastered the art of ripping songs from radio to cassette. I would play the 10 song cassette endlessly on our family vacation car rides across the USA. I really had no idea what the words were, what they meant, or what was "inappropriate" innuendo until I revisited these songs a decade later. Semi-Charmed life by Third Eye Bling was a favorite of mine that turned out to be quite provocative- it had a different meaning to me independent of what most heard. I've found I retain this extra, dare I say supernatural, connection to music (especially pop/rock/alt/folk/ but with time all kinds) that makes me feel things I cannot explain.
When the terrorist attacks hit NYC on 9/11, I was 12, and I spent my free time making montages of the wreckage, weeping, graphic and sentimental images from the incident that played through songs that I felt were sad but comforting and redeeming (like Let it Be by the Beatles). I showed these to my mom and she said it made her sad and I should do something else with my time.
I used a broomstick as a guitar and pretended to play songs in my room up until high school. That's when I got my first guitar (to the chagrin of my family) and learned it myself by repetition. I had a huge book of Beatles chords I worked my way through. Revolution was an easy one to start with and I eventually learned complex progressions and arrangements like Blackbird and A Day In The Life. I was technically not very smooth and prone to shyness and a lack of confidence that hindered my outward expression of what was going on in my room. I always felt ashamed that I was so clearly moved by musical things others found mundane or even annoying. It didn't help that I shunned technical training and practice because it felt remote from the intensity of experience I felt in songs.
I tabbed my own bass lines to songs without knowing what a bass was best utilized for. I published these on tab sites and they must have been rated down quickly for lack of fidelity to recordings. Made no difference to me for some reason.
I also couldn't sing, but didn't really know why or how since I sounded fine to myself. When I finally did learn to sing pleasantly and soulfully, in key and without nasally noise, I looked back and understood why I had never been given much consideration in my efforts and engagement in music.
I could go on about the warehouse catalog I used in my teens to order music from all decades and many genres. I listened to every CD and found "5 Star" songs I adored that many had never heard of. "Sangri La" by the Kinks or "Coming Up Roses" by Elliott Smith are good examples. I would hide the incoming parcels from my parents who disapproved of my expenditures by having my younger brother grab the mail early when he got home from school before me.
I ended up with an ability/sensory experience I still can't define and have difficulty mainstreaming. An example of a recent original is below to show where I've come to. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this with another passion or hobby.
